Out-of-touch Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy may seek the help of leading
sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella after his wretched opening-round of 79 at
Muirfield.

Staring into the middle distance and at one stage sending a putt straight into a greenside bunker, Rory McIlroy looked less like a two-time major champion than a lost, lonely soul.

The sombre on-course demeanour was mirrored in a remarkable bout of self-flagellation afterwards, as the 24-year-old admitted he was considering a return to leading sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella to help repair the latest mental wounds inflicted by a wretched opening round of 79. “I’ve worked with Bob before, and it could be beneficial again,” he said.

Rotella appeared receptive to the idea, arguing that McIlroy could recover the strut of old by harnessing the more instinctive play of his youth rather than agonising about the adjustments to his new Nike clubs.

“I believe he is wondering, ‘Is it me or is it the equipment’?” Rotella, who has worked with 74 major winners, told The Daily Telegraph. “When he feels he has conquered this, I’m confident he will return to being ‘unconscious’ with his game. At his best he was just looking at it and letting it go towards the target.”

Likening McIlroy’s slump to the malaise experienced by Tiger Woods after 2009, Rotella, 64, explained: “Rory is like Tiger, in that he has won at a very early age, very consistently – that’s a lot of success in his life. But in every sport, you see guys who get to a certain level and then they fall off the planet. My guess is Rory will come back, but whether he is going to do it this year or next year remains to be seen.”

Manifestly, the great recovery act is not about to be staged at Muirfield. McIlroy’s first round was littered with uncharacteristic errors, not least his extraordinary brain-fade at the 15th, where he found a fairway bunker off the tee and escaped as far as the front apron of the green – and then promptly putted straight into another bunker.

The explanations advanced for McIlroy’s addled mental state are as varied as they are outlandish.

Johnny Miller, the former US Open winner and strident NBC commentator, peculiarly ascribed the unravelling to his relationship with Caroline Wozniacki, saying: “He’s in love for the first time. It’s a wonderful feeling – and it’s distracting.”

The statement was all the odder for the fact that McIlroy won the USPGA by eight shots a year after he began dating the tennis star.

But the legends of yesteryear have been lining up this week to scrutinise the wunderkind, Sir Nick Faldo chief among them.

The triple Open champion infamously questioned whether McIlroy was practising diligently enough, drawing a withering riposte from the Northern Irishman that he was working 12-hour days.

It must have been a touch galling for McIlroy to see his most outspoken critic also return a 79, although this time Faldo passionately sought to play the peacemaker.

“I’m like the big granddad here,” said Faldo, clearly stung to have been depicted otherwise. “I am friends with Rory – don’t write it any other way.

"Since he was 12 he was a big part of my Faldo Series for young players. I am merely saying to him that you need to give it your full attention when you want to play golf. I’m trying to give him some caring, loving help.”

Again indicating that McIlroy was falling prey to too many distractions off the course, Faldo argued: “This is your window as an athlete. Rory is going to have a wife, and he’ll have children.

"That’s your window as an athlete. But for the moment you concentrate on your golf. Just keep it minimal. I am speaking from experience, because I have seen it happen before.

"Rory shouldn’t go off into the business world because he has tons of time for that. He can retire at some time in his 40s, perhaps with 10 majors to his name, and then he can be a businessman for the next 50 years.”

But the immediate priorities for McIlroy are rather more pressing. The implosion began when he racked up a double-bogey six at the 379-yard 12th, failing to hit his chip up far enough at the hill and then fired his second attempt far beyond the flag.

Worse followed with the debacle at the 15th, where a six ultimately ensued, before further bogeys at the two closing holes set the seal on his misery.

Faldo, seeking desperately to project himself as the great empathiser, underlined his concern for the sad figure he saw here on the sun-soaked Lothian links.

Raising doubts about McIlroy’s switch to Nike clubs, which he first expressed when the move was announced in January, he said: “Right from the word go I thought that Rory’s equipment change was very dangerous. The game is about feel, and feel is confidence.

"Rory looks like a different person, let alone a different golfer. When I saw him just before the PGA at Wentworth, he said, ‘Every part of my game is good’. I don’t think he would say that now.”